Issue 21 // Complimentray Issue July 2015
What is Afropolitan Vibes?
Afropolitan Vibes is a monthly live music concert which exists as a platform for alternative music: a place where music lovers congregate to watch contemporary singer-songwriters and musicians perform mostly original works that are firmly rooted in African musical origins of Afro-beat, Afro-funk, Afro-hip-hop, Afro-pop and Highlife music. A host of talented artists gather each month to rehearse and then perform with Bantucrew on stage at Freedom Park’s Main Stage. The show is held every third Friday of each month. Show starts promptly from 8.00pm-10.30/11.00pm. Afropolitan Vibes is co-produced by Ade Bantu and Abby Ogunsanya.
Bantu
Bantu aka Brotherhood Alliance Navigating Towards Unity is a 12-piece Afro-funk-Afro-hip-hop-Afro-beat musical collective founded by NigerianGerman brothers Adé Bantu and Abiodun. The band features multiinstrumentalists and singers who perform as a collective.
Palm Wine Tradition
Palm wine is now available at all our shows. As our palm wine is always freshly tapped in Badagry in the early hours of the morning of each show, this luscious white liquid is guaranteed to be sweet and only mildly intoxicating as it is yet unfermented. Our palm wine is served the traditional way: the wine is available to buy per gourd (to share with friends/family) or in individual calabashes. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are also available for purchase at the Freedom Park bar area where we encourage you all to come join us after the show for a drink, chat and photographs.
Official After Party
After each show, we have an after party gig at the Freedom Park bar area. We have different special guest DJs who make an appearance alongside Raymond Bola Browne aka DJraybeeBrowne of Igroove Radio who is our resident DJ. Join us at the Freedom Park bar immediately after the show to party and hangout with friends.
Spread the Word
If you love Afropolitan Vibes, spread the word – tweet about us - @afropolitanvibe join our facebook page - facebook.com/Afropolitanvibes subscribe tour digital magazine - issuu.com/afropolitanvibes and invite your friends and family next time.
NEXT AFROPOLITAN VIBES SHOW WILL BE ON AUGUST 21ST, 2015 SEE YOU THEN! Afropolitan Vibes Magazine credits: Editor: Abby Ogunsanya
Printing: John Bola
Contact and advertising enquiries:
Guest artists profiles: Rayo Adebola
Graphic Design: Graeme Arendse
info@afropolitanvibes.com
Cover image: Aderemi Adegbite
Guest artists’ pictures: Courtesy of subjects
Tel: + 234-803-4937094
Show pictures: Aderemi Adegbite
WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE! We are excited to announce the launch of our new website! Yo u c a n a c c e s s o u r s i te a t
w w w. a f ro p o l i ta nv i b e s . c o m Here you will find comprehensive information about ALL aspects of the shows: information about the band, guest artist profiles, video footage, information about the production team and our partners, upcoming events and eventually even our very own Afropolitan Vibes store where you can buy music and merchandise. It’s the resource that collates everything you need to know about Afropolitan Vibes - past, present and future. We will be updating the website regularly and we want to hear from you about your suggestions for improvements. We hope this new website will be an enjoyable resource for our ever growing Afropolitan Vibes community!
Happy browsing! (Special thanks to DiePreye Krukrubo, creator of AfricentricsLIVE & BusTown Entertainment Network for creating the website)
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Issue 21 // July 2015
Editor’s Notes
The summer months are here! Now is the holiday season for those of us who are fortunate enough to have the time and money to make our getaway. For musicians, this is also the time to travel to perform at music festivals around the world. BANTU is no exception - the band will be performing at a couple of venues abroad in the coming months, but you can be rest assured that they will be back in time for Afropolitan Vibes. Available for sale at our July show will be BANTU’s latest single ‘AFROPUNK’. Please be sure to buy a copy of the CD. We hope you have checked out the new Afropolitan Vibes Podcast Series, which we launched last month with Ade Bantu’s in conversation with singersongwriter Patrice Bart Williams. If not, be sure to check it out on our website at www.Afropolitanvibes.com/podcasts. We just completed the 2nd edition with Ade Bantu in conversation with Nigerian singer-songwriter Brymo, in which Brymo was relaxed and happy to have a no holds barred chat about his life and music. This riveting podcast will be online soon. Be sure to subscribe to our mailing list so we can keep you up to date with this as well as all the latest Afropolitan Vibes news and developments. Enjoy the show!
In this issue
Rayo Adebola profiles our three guest artists – Orits Wiliki, M.I and Aina More. We feature some of our favourite pictures from 25th edition of Afropolitan Vibes, which was held on June 19, 2015.
Contact us
You can email us with your thoughts at info@afropolitanvibes.com. We also read all comments and respond to questions on Facebook, and Twitter. We have a limited number of back issues of Afropolitan Vibes magazine. If you would like a copy, please contact us via email or on +234-803-4937094.
Afropolitan Vibes
MI The Chairman www.miabaga.com /// twitter: @MI_Abaga
I
t’s 2009 and I’m sitting in my friend’s car on the way back to UNILAG when I ask, “Whose CD is playing?” “A new guy called MI” is the response and I know I have to get the album, ‘Talk about it’, for myself. My most played tracks on iTunes for the rest of that year included ‘Anoti’, ‘Safe’ and ‘Fast Money, Fast Cars’. Of course, since that time, I followed the Short Black Boy (as he dubs himself) keenly.
By the time he made the move back home, MI had decided on music as a career. With help from those already in the industry, including DJinee, he started to make a dent in the Nigerian music industry. The release of ‘Talk About it’ secured his place and set him apart as a game changer. That album won multiple awards including Best Rap Single (Hip Hop World Awards, 2008). MI was also consistently releasing Mixtapes and he got signed to Chocolate City, a recording label he recently became Chief Executive Officer of.
It’s 2015 and my most played tracks on iTunes include ‘Shekpe’, ‘Brother’ and ‘Human Being’. The love affair with MI’s music hasn’t stopped. IIn fact, where it dimmed over the past few years, his latest album ‘The Chairman’ rekindled it.
To support the careers of other artists, MI founded Loopy Records, which, a few months ago, merged with Chocolate City. The union sees M.I, Jesse Jagz, Ice Prince, Ruby Gyang, Loose Kaynon, Victoria Kimani, Nosa and other music artists under the same label.
MI, born Jude Abaga, is my favourite Nigerian rapper. Heck, he’s a lot of Nigerians’ favourite rapper, as evidenced by the frenzy around the release of his last album. MI grew up in Jos, Northern Nigeria, and first explored music with lessons from a 7-key mini piano his mother bought. He moved to the United States to study Business and Economics at Calvin College, Michigan, USA, and it was while there he started performing poetry at Hip Hop shows and concerts in the school.
By all parameters, MI enjoys a successful music career, and it’s clear to all how hard he works to make it one. Beyond music, however, he is also a vocal advocate of social progress and justice, one who has used his place to preach messages like violence-free elections. Besides his corporate endorsements, he is also a United Nations ambassador and an ambassador for the Lagos State Electricity Board.
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Issue 21 // July 2015
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Afropolitan Vibes
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Issue 21 // July 2015
Wiliki
OritS A
t the end of 2014, Orits Wiliki celebrated his 30th year on stage. The reggae musician started singing in church as a kid, eager to follow in his father’s steps of evangelism. Till today, his music still carries messages of equality and justice. The artiste, who is of Ethiopian heritage, also worked as a studio producer when he started out in the industry. He produced the music of some of Nigeria’s greatest reggae musicians, including Ras Kimono and Majek Fashek.
Signed to the defunct Polygram Records, he released his first music album and by the time I was growing up in the 90s, Orits Wiliki was a household name. We knew his songs so well we sang along to them. Over the course of his career, he has put out 10 albums, with many of the songs becoming hits. Orits Wiliki has been consistent in his message and his music, but he’s also grown with the times – perhaps, a reason he has continued to enjoy success. His new songs infuse some contemporary styles, allowing him to enjoy greater appeal across generations. Alongside creating music, Orits has also been instrumental in the fight for the rights of Nigerian musicians and the fight to create a proper structure for the music industry, one that eliminates piracy while creating a proper distribution network and ensures payment of royalties.
www.facebook.com/orits.wiliki
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Afropolitan Vibes
Aina More
Making Music You Feel
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Issue 21 // July 2015
“I miss the old days/I miss the old me/I miss not missing anything.” – Layback 2.0 by Aina More I discovered the music of Aina More through her 2015 EP, ‘For People with Short Attention Spans’. I fell in love with the softness of the beats mixed with the tightness and poetry of the lyrics, so much that I made the journey back to her first EP, ‘Back to Life’.
to write for people. There was an artist who said ‘Can you record it for me so I know exactly how to deliver it?’ I literally didn’t look back. The week after that, I recorded my first EP.”
Her music gives off vibes of a deep-thinking creator -- the type you want to spend a Sunday evening outdoors chilling with while nursing cups of coffee and listening to her speak. I didn’t get the chance to do that – the hanging out – but a long phone conversation with her only increased the desire to.
To connect with more people, Aina started to explore rap, explaining that, “I find that music connects to people more… because sometimes, people don’t necessarily just want to listen to the words but they want to feel a certain vibe. Music is the perfect medium between feeling and listening.”
Aina More was born in Camden, to a father who listened to Louis Armstrong and Diana Ross, and a mother who listened to Ayuba and Sunny Ade. Coming from this mix of old school and Fuji, Aina, who also listened to a lot of pop music, says it moulded her into the artist she is.
Aina has, over the past few years, worked with a number of Nigerian artists and made music here. She started working on her ‘For People with Short Attention Spans’ in Nigeria, and she is currently here to work on her Live Album, a move she says wasn’t planned.
“I don’t really take genre into consideration; I just make the music I want to make – that feels genuine to me. I tend to work with a lot of different styles of music. The music I grew up listening to affected my style, so you have songs like ‘Layback’, which has a jazzy, mellow laidback style, and you have ‘Girls Killing It’, which has an afro-groove influence, all directly reflective of what I grew up listening to.”
“I came here and I fell in love with the vibes, a lot of the musicians and the way they work and deliver hiphop. In the UK, we have Grime but there’s not really a hiphop scene. In Nigeria, I feel like the heart of HipHop is beating and I love it.” On working in Nigeria, she says: “I’ve been blessed to work with some of the most amazing people in the industry, such as Mode Nine and Jimmy Jatt. They understand work ethics. I’ve also come across the downside of being a woman in this industry.”
It wasn’t a straightforward path into music though. She initially got into the arts as a writer/theatre practitioner.
“The most important thing to do is to stay focused,” she says about navigating the downside. “Always remember why it is you do what you do. You have to have standards and morals and you cannot break those for anyone. The main thing that’s helped is meditation – you have to centre your thoughts around what matters, and that’s where the ‘Layback’ track comes from.”
“I co-founded a physical theatre company called Silhouettes in the Dark, and a lot of the work we did involved spoken word or mixed medium works. So, we’d go from straight acting into spoken word.” Aina says spoken word pulled her in, and, “We’d do things like record spoken word over instrumentals we’d make ourselves. People started tuning into what we were doing and I’d get calls to come into the studio
She explains that the inspiration she gets here in Lagos is different from that she gets in the UK. “There’s a hustler’s mentality here that the UK just doesn’t have. There’s the sunlight, there’s the vibe, there’s the people. There’s just so many things that Nigeria has. I wake up and I feel like I belong here.”
twitter: @AinaMore website: www.AinaMore.com
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JUNE 2015 Edition